Russian law explicitly defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. This is not really a shock, given just how well-entrenched the patriarchy is in Russian society, and it’s not as if things are so much better in 46 of the 50 states here in my home country of America. So I have to give a shout-out to Irina Fedotova and Irina Shipitko for marching into a government office and calmly asking for a marriage license. They were denied, as was to be expected, but that doesn’t detract from their attempt to show that marriage laws should be changed in Russia — a country that only decriminalized homosexuality in 1993.

The current state of affairs in Russia is such that any attempt at gay rights within society is swiftly shut down. A planned gay pride parade for this Saturday in Moscow has been banned, although organizers say it will still go on as planned. The parade has prompted such responses as “the gay parade is … an act of spiritual terrorism,” from Mikhail Nalimov, chairman of the Union of Orthodox Christian Youth. Oh yes, and Nalimov’s deputy has said that the parade is really just an attempt to convert people to the gay side. Mayor Yury Luzhkov doesn’t hesitate to go further, saying that the parade would be “Satanic”.

One reason this is so compelling to me is not merely that I’m bisexual and passionate about this issue, but I’m also part-Russian and my mother’s family has an intense love-hate relationship with the country. We love our heritage, but my Grandpa Buddy still holds a grudge about his parents being forced from their homes by the deadly pre-Revolution pogroms that were designed to kill and oppress the Jewish population. The rate of violence and discrimination against gays in Russia is the new acceptable form of discrimination, and even The Moscow Times notes that “casual homophobia is widespread in Russia”. (The article also features an incredibly lovely picture of Fedotova and Shipitko.) I’m not about to stand here and pretend that the state of gay rights in America is anywhere near where it should be, but I’m also not going to pretend that Russia’s attitude towards gay rights is at all acceptable. Things need to change, and I hope the pride parade goes off without a hitch this weekend.

9 Responses to “To Russia With Love”

Russia only decriminalized homosexuality in 1993, but it took ten years after that for Lawrence v. Texas.

I had no idea things were so bad in Russia. I also know very little about Russian culture. I’m curious about ethnic, racial, and religious diversity there because those seem to be lines that hate goes along. In France: Muslims. In Russia, apparently: LGBT people.

@kithkin: Yeah, like I said, America is really not terrific on our LGBT rights laws. The thing about Russia is that, especially since the Putin era started, repression has been so much more out in the open and hence easier to report on. At least pride parades are allowed in this country.

The rates of homophobic violence and discrimination under Putin is, to my mind, comparable with the amount of racist violence against peoples from Central Asia, the former Soviet colonies, foreign students, etc.; both are symptomatic of this really pervasive culture of masculinized identity.

Okay, cute story time!
While teaching English in Russia, I brought my students a news story about Roy and Silo, the gay penguin dads.
One of my adult students got uncomfortable and huffy (over penguins!), saying, “No, I – I think this, it is not right.”
Then sweet, quiet, 14-year-old Kolya intones, “Even animals want to have the fun.”
The end.

Per an Economist report about a year and a half ago, in Russia, if you’re a darker-skinned immigrant, you’d better be able to outrun a pack of skinheads in the snow. Also, don’t go to the police about it, because they’ll probably beat you up instead.

That is atrocious. Jesus. Thanks, CBears. Sarah, I am totally with you on the “at least pride parades are allowed in this country.” it is just continually shocking to me that Lawrence was just 6 years ago. It’s not great here, but we’ve come a long way. I hope Russia will, too.

In Russian it’s not just LGBT people Kithkin. Aside from trying to destroy their own people, there is rampant racism and open violence (even by public authorities) against foreigners. Those from the former satellite states (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, etc etc) are particularly targeted, as are Africans.

It’s already defined in the Family Code of the Russian Federation that marriage is between a man and a woman. There is absolutely no way that ZAGS could issue them a marriage license. You’d have to change the Family Code first. It’s akin to states that have a Defense of Marriage Act on their books.